Kemensah House

Kemensah House is a detached single family home situated at the end of a cul-de-sac of a suburban neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur. Within a land area of 1400 m², the house is organized around an L-shaped plan concealing from the main approach a courtyard with a pool, badminton court and pavilion. The house is realised through a series of rectilinear intersecting volumes arranged in split levels in response to the original sloping condition of the site. Openings and their orientations have been carefully articulated to frame and define views and at the same time provide privacy.

External timber screens and timber wrapped vertical fins help to create more privacy and more importantly, provide shading to the interior spaces from potential solar gain. The timber elements are present on almost all facades, especially that of the sun-exposed east and west, and they provide a consistent and strong architectural language to the overall design of the house. Generous timber balconies are extensions of the living rooms and each overlooks the private courtyard.

The heart of the house is evidently the courtyard, where it is conceived as an outdoor living room and an extension of the living spaces. The patios surrounding the courtyard become the mediator between inside and outside, allowing internal spaces to seamlessly merge with external areas house. A small pavilion in the centre of the courtyard becomes the central focus and provides shaded shelter after a game of badminton or a dip in the pool. At the top level of the house, a small glass-enclosed pavilion shaded by timber fins leads out to the roof garden. Both the glass pavilion and roof garden looks out to the city and its famous twin towers.